J.R. “Baby Shaq” Quinahan scored a career-high 23 points spiced with 10 rebounds to lead the Burger King Whoppers to an 87-80 upset of the Alaska Aces Wednesday night in the penultimate game of the classification round of the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome. Regardless of the game result, the Whoppers were already relegated to the wildcard, where they will join three other teams in the knockout pairings with the hope of advancing to the quarterfinal. Burger King thus ended the classification round with a 6-12 win-loss card in tie with the Coca-Cola Tigers for seventh to eighth place. Alaska could have secured the last automatic semifinals berth had it won. The Aces, now at 12-5, face a must-win game Friday when they battle the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (4-13). Another Alaska loss would complicate matters as either Barangay Ginebra (12-6) or Purefoods (11-6) – if it hurdles its last assignment against Sta. Lucia also on Friday – could force a playoff with Alaska for the second and last semifinals slot. The defeat was the second straight for the Aces after they were soundly beaten by the Purefoods TJ Giants, 94-77, last Friday. In the first match of the double-header, Asi Taulava hit a 12-foot game winner with 1.8 seconds left as the Coca-Cola Tigers finally eliminated the Barako Bull Energy Boosters, 91-89. The hulking Fil-Tongan center topscored with 20 points, making 6 of 11 attempts from the field. He also collared 11 rebounds for his seventh double-double in the conference. He also had five assists, one steal, and one shot block. The loss sent the Barako Bull crashing out of the conference as they finished at the bottom of the standings with a 3-15 mark. Had they won, the Energy Boosters would have possibly forced a playoff for the last wildcard spot should Rain or Shine lose to Alaska Friday. They nearly did it as they came charging back from a 20-point deficit early in the fourth quarter. Trailing 79-82, Alex Crisano knocked in a three-point shot to spark a 10-0 run. Crisano eventually topscored for Barako Bull with a career-high-tying 19 points, including 5 of 7 from three-point range, Unfortunately, Crisano could not stop Taulava from scoring the game-winner for Coca-Cola. The Tigers will now be facing the Burger King Whoppers in the knockout wildcard.
